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PROMETHEUS PREQUEL MEETS THE MOVIE
'CLOSING THE HOLES' As much as I think highly of Ridley Scott, the Hollywood process tends to screw him over in terms of his ability in telling a story. I like him--I can't stand Hollywood. That said, it's time to address the Holes in PROMETHEUS and the ALIEN Franchise...and slap James cameron upside the head. 'ALIEN' The BIGGEST issue in ALIEN is the unpossible depth of the shaft to the Egg Chamber below. The Original idea was that the derelict and a temple were to be seperate elements, but Budget and Time forced Scott to mash them together, and I believe he was never really pleased with that, but compromises have to happen. Okay, with PROMETHEUS, we can now sew up the holes. We now know that LV-426 from ALIEN and LV-223 are in the same star system. We also now know the Engineers were developing weapons on LV-223, and that even they can make mistakes. Thus, it stands to reason that LV-426 was the site of an Automated Weapons Storage Site/Silo. The ship lands, connects, and the Eggs are loaded aboard automatically and with minimal to no risk to live personnel as it's all machine-driven. This also explains the size, and that laser-light mist, or allows for a plausible explanation towards such. The derelict didn't 'crash', it landed, to take on Ordnance prior to heading to Earth, as it was revealed in PROMETHEUS that the Engineers planned to Eradicate Humanity. We also know, from ALIEN, that LV-426 has active geologic processes from the numerous steam/gas vents seen during the walk to the derelict, possibly even deep tectonic, and likely caused by it's rapid spin and the interaction with the gravity of other bodies in the star system. A few millenia of that, many small terrain shifts over time, and it would look like the ship had crashed. SO...what happened to the Pilot?? We know the Engineers are not infallible, and there's no such thing as Perfection in any system. So, during Loading, a facehugger gets loose unintentionally and attacks the Pilot. It could very easily clamp onto the face of the helmet, and use it's acid-secreting ovipositor tube to burn an entry hole through the mouth area, inside it, of the Pilot's suit and it would be near invisible millenia later, especially during the cursory, half-lit examination conducted by Dallas and Co.. Thus, the Engineer becomes host to a Chestburster. The Chestburster eventually makes it's way out, but would have to fight it's way out of the Engineer, and then the Suit. So, considering it's still a rather vulnerable stage of development, and considering the suit, it's not unreasonable to assume that it managed to make it's way out in a massive, explosive leap and inflicted near-immediately fatal harm to itself, explaining why the man-sized acid-eaten hole in the floor exists, and why it's a distance away from the pilot; The dying chestburster explodes out, and then lays dying and bleeding profusely, burning a huge hole in the deck. So....why was it left there for thousands, maybe millions of years??? The Engineers likely were in no major hurry to clean it up and deal with it as LV-426 is a dead rock and the was no hazard to any living things. Also, they'd likely wait until (eventually) the Bioweapon cargo went Inert due to time so they could recover the ship without any risk whatsoever. The Interesting point on this line of Logic is that if the ship was stranded there millenia or Millions of years ago--long before the Engineers planned to annihilate Humanity... ...who were they preparing to annihilate?? 'THE LIFECYCLE OF THE ALIEN' Cameron really went Blase` with this in coming up with a Queen, and while it makes sense--for Terrestrial insects--Aliens were built as Autonomous Weapons. So, Cameron took a great and Original idea, and Nerfed it. Yeah, the Queen's impressive, but ALIENS was strictly a shoot-em-up flick and the Queen was the 'Final Boss' villain. Thus, I defer and prefer Ridley Scott's idea that an Alien can reproduce Independently. Such makes a LOT more sense for a Weapon. The Engineers were getting ready to Annihilate Humanity, and obviously would have done all they could to fashion the best weapon possible. A sequence, shot, but deleted due to editting and 'pacing feel' from the Theatrical release shows Ripley finding Capt. Dallas and Brett, Dallas is cocooned and Brett is rapidly changing into an Egg, and it's evident that Dallas is meant to be a host for the facehugger to be. When one considers that Retroviruses can easily re-code DNA, and that the Aliens are Weapons built by the Engineers, it doesn't seem that strange. Recode the DNA and one can effect amazing changes, like a Pupae into a butterfly, as example. The Alien also was very near the end of it's Life and had crawled into a hide-hole to die, according to Scott...it just happend to be the shuttle, which makes sense, as aside from Dallas earlier, it's left alone and ignored by the crew--a perfect, quiet lair. So, we have a Biological Autonomous Weapon, with a very short Lifespan--about 24 Hours from Chestburster to Death--and in such a creature, the compulsion to fulfill it's genetic imperatives would be Paramount and Absolute. It needs nothing but Hosts to reproduce, and in doing so kills them. The short lifespan factors in neatly as a self-extinguishing weapon after they've killed off Humanity thus no 'leftovers' to mess up whatever new works the Engineers intend, aside from remnant Eggs, but they must have a means of dealing with those, like an airborne and VERY specific Fungus/Mould or such that ONLY affects Eggs, killing them and breaking them down into such that the nutrients and related can be re-used in the ecosystem. So, why did it not attack Jones the cat in his kitty-carrier?? Well, they're 'programmed' to pursue/kill Humans, and a Cat is also too small. The Engineers likely consider the Alien to be a 'scalpel' to selectively remove one species from a planet with minimal upset to the rest of the ecosystem. So, it might have been momentarily curious, but that would be the limit of it's interest. If you recall, Jones sure didn't seem to feel Threatened by the Alien when he was in his cat carrier and it was looking in--also, he was running loose around the ship and it totally ignored his presence. 'THE ALIEN' For me, there's ONLY one type, and that is the one we saw in ALIEN itself. Yes, the later versions were eye-candy, but the first one is the scariest. The Lone Hunter In Shadows. So, in all my works dealing with them, I will stick with the Original. Also, as far as I'm concerned, the Yautja (Predators) do not hunt them, and may well have no clue they exist. The difference between the Original and the later versions is that the First is a frightening statement of Capability and Lethality. Swift, strong, agile, smart, and the Perfect Hunter...and Silent as oil creeping across a smooth steel floor in the dark. In Aliens and afterwards, they're just cool-looking targets, nothing more, aside from 'grid' in AvP...that Alien had some smarts. But again, wasn't truly 'ALIEN'. That all said, there's NOTHING stating that Aliens couldn't overwhelm a world--they were meant expressly FOR that purpose. But, while there might be some limited cooperation between some of them, they will by and large operate independently. Making for a genuine nightmare from Ridley Scott because unlike with Cameron's knock-off, there's NO central Hive. They would be everywhere, and you could never be sure you found and killed them all. If you decided to nuke the planet, you could be sure that any Human survivors would still have to worry about Aliens and remnant Eggs. Ash, in Alien, said it so very well... Ripley: How do we kill it Ash? There's gotta be a way of killing it. How? How do we do it? Ash: You can't. Parker: That's bullshit. Ash: You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. Lambert: You admire it. Ash: I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. Parker: Look, I am... I've heard enough of this, and I'm asking you to pull the plug. Ash: goes to disconnect Ash, who interrupts Last word. Ripley: What? Ash: I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies. 'HOW TOUGH IS AN ALIEN?' Consider what we know, from Giger's take on them, the artwork and how they look. We can also presume the Engineers would make them quite well. Thus, consider an Endo-skeletal creature with an Exo-skeleton as well. Best of both worlds. Enormously strong because it has the benefits of both physiologies, yet is slender as it uses it's muscle mass VERY efficiently. Also, we can presume it's muscle fibers are considerably stronger than Human, thus even less is needed. The Endo-Exo skeletal arrangement also allows for an amazingly resiliant creature--you can forget punching this thing, because imagine punching something that's Solid and sheathed in thick Horn. It'd at best barely get it's attention and at worst you'd mess up your hand. Biological materials can be astoundingly tough, so it'd also be highly resistant to cutting/puncturing attacks, and as we know, they heal incredibly fast. Guns would be effective, to a minimal degree, as if the round penetrated, it'd encounter the acid and be dissolved VERY fast--consider how fast the Facehugger's acid burned through the floor, and that was a LOT more, and thougher, material than anything you find in bullets. The pulse rifle explosive bullets would be somewhat more effective than solid slugs, but NOwhere near as effective as shown in ALIENS. Pistols would be useless. Also, the grapple Ripley fired into it, would have knocked it loose from it's bad grip on the hatchway, but would have very swiftly have been consumed by the acid, as well as it's connection to the tetherline. Fire, again, useful--but likely not as much vs. a 'soft' target. Horn and related materials don't burn well, and as for Aliens being innately 'flammable'...that's garbage, and I dismiss it as 'movie necessity'. Covering one in flaming napalm would harm it--slowly--but it'd still rip you to shreds because they are a VERY single-minded creature. But a splash of napalm likely wouldn't do significant harm before burning out and certainly nothing the Alien couldn't swiftly heal from. Don't forget, these monsters don't need air like we do, that's a big part of how napalm kills--scorching the target's lungs when they try to breathe. This is MY Alien, Ridley Scott's Original creation that I shelter and keep safe from the real monsters...they're found in Hollywood's offices. 'THE FACEHUGGER' I've been looking at this little monster, that has a Reputation all it's own. Everyone's familiar with the Film Versions, but many folks have never seen Giger's original ideas, or that it started as a much larger creature. I like and hate some aspects of the Film Versions...and Giger's works, well, they creep one right out. The 'Hand Alien' seen above, with the single, non-Human Eye on it's back is one of the best designs as far as I'm concerned, but I agree that moving the legs to the sides works better. So, I am tinkering with a Facehugger that properly honors the Artist that gave it form, and basing heavily off the first two pics above with the helmet on and the 'hand alien' shown beside it. Also, I answer the question, and bring consistency to some questionable 'flexibilities' that movies have exploited. How does is render a human unconscious, how long does impregnantion take, what is actually implanted, and the other details the moves have effed around with mersilessly. First, the underside DOES have suction cups in my redesign, and they are very powerful, when combined with the legs and tail, there's no practical means of removing it short of surgery and the risks with it's acidic blood. Second, it has that face-cup type area as seen in the above pic with the helmetted figure, and that covers the victim's mouth and nose completely like an anaesthesia mask. The Facehugger renders the victim semi-conscious or fully unconscious by using it's tail to apply pressure to the Carotid artery, and can do so with such sensitivity that there's no risk of death. It also makes air Unabilable to the victim, due to the 'mask' area of it's underside covering mouth and nose, leading to panic, and thus consuming the O2 reserves in the blood much faster, and that combined with the 'sleeper hold' of the tail makes for a swift method of inducing unconsciousness. As the victim starts to lose consciousness, the Facehugger tightens it's grip on the head with it's fingers to the maximum and fully secures itself with the suction cups, and all the while from first contact with the victim's face, it's been steadily and very busily/frenziedly probing and trying to force it's ovipositor past lips and teeth. However, if there's no resistance from the host, due to being cocooned for example, the facehugger likely wouldn't bother rendering the Host unconscious, as such carries risks, and the host that dies is a 'dud' weapon-failure. Biting through the Ovipositer wouldn't, logically, be possible as the Engineers would likely have considered such and it'd be made easily resilient enough to cope with even the most determined Human jaw-pressure. Keep in mind, this lifeform, the Alien, was built as a WEAPON, so all I'm doing is analyzing it, closing gaps and making it Valid. The Engineers wouldn't miss a trick in making the Alien as Effective as possible for it's intended purpose. The Facehugger is a one-shot system and once out of the Egg has a Finite life, because there's NO way it can eat, so it must carry reserves of Glycogen or Glucagen in itself and once those run out, or it's accomplished it's Purpose, it's dead. But, Hibernation could prolong it's life as it lies in wait for a target, perhaps for months or a few years. 'TAKE TWO, THEY'RE SMALL....' The general rule is one facehugger and one chestburster per facehugger. NOT all that efficient for a Weapon system. Also, considering all the amazing possibilities with Lifeforms, there's NO reason why a Facehugger couldn't implant multiple larvae into a host. It has ONE purpose, and given the size of the Ovipositer, the larvae capsules could easily be carried in multiples inside the facehugger, because it makes sense to get the most out of a one-shot 'weapon' or delivery-system. Also, with this idea, a single Alien becomes a MUCH vaster threat, as after it spawns, then their numbers start growing Geometrically--at minimum, and likely faster than that. One Alien cocoons one Host and Converts one Human to an Egg. That Facehugger carries 4 Larvae (as an arbitrary number) and that Host spawns 4 Chestbursters, each maturing VERY fast to an adult. Then, each of them repeats the cycle... No Queens, as each is Independent for reproduction and hyper-driven to carry out it's genetic Imperative, even eating would be irrelevant, or secondary at best...if they do even eat. How fast would Aliens ensure the annihilation of Humanity? Damned fast.